FR. JON BRAUN'S RADIO SHOW
My favorite Eastern Orthodox preacher, Fr. Jon Braun, now has a radio show on KPRZ in San Diego -- Sundays at noon. It's also streamed live on the Internet. I haven't heard it yet because I'm generally still pretty busy about noon on Sundays.

AMERICA: LAND OF DENOMINATIONS
J. Gordon Melton has cataloged 2,630 U.S. and Canadian "faith groups" in the new edition "Encyclopedia of American Religion." It's got everything from the Bishop of Rome's American operation (the Roman Catholic Church) to the Kennedy Worshippers. Link here. (Thanks CT)

On a related note, tomorrow's Star-Tribune carries an article entitled "Denomination 'brand loyalty' a thing of the past". "Experts on religion characterize the trend as the 'deregulation of the religious economy.' Couple that with a renewed interest in spirituality -- baby boomers' yen to seek meaning in life -- and you'll find more people church-shopping than ever before." So, Amy Gage offers a few suggestions on church shopping. Some of them are wise.

LEFT BEHIND SPIN-OFFS
"Tyndale House Publishers has struck a deal with Tekno Book to create two new spin-off series based on the best-selling Left Behind Series." Link here. Apocalypse Dawn and State Secrets will be released in 2004. (Thanks CT)

O, joy!

CREATIONISTS CAN'T GET RECCOMENDATIONS
From Boing Boing: "A prof in Texas is refusing to write letters of recommendation for further study in biomedical science unless his students aver a belief in evolution and disclaim a belief in Creationism." And this is at Texas Tech in Lubbock -- still pretty much "Bible belt" territory. Don't miss the "Discuss" link at the bottom of the Boing Boing story. The responses are as telling as the story itself. Related article in the Houston Chronicle.

TRIPOD NOW OFFERING BLOGS
New -- another free option for bloggers. Looks simple enough to use. None of the sites I viewed had annoying tripod pop up in your face ads. Most of the categories in their directory are still empty and none of the blogs had more than 2 or 3 days worth of entries. IOW, this is really new. Rumor has it that AOL is going to soon offer a blogging option. (Thanks Dan Gillmor)

AMERICA'S NEW MINORITY MAJORITY
Rudy Carrasco has an engaging piece on the rise of the Hispanic minority which appeared as an Op-Ed piece in the Pasadena Star-News. Interesting comments on the use of English as well as discrimination within the Hispanic community -- i.e. Mexicans marginalizing Central Americans and Caribbeans.

STORMIN' NORMAN SKEPTICAL ABOUT WAR
The Washington Post is reporting that General Schwarzkopf, commander of U.S. forces during the Gulf War, has serious reservations about invading Iraq. (Thanks, Sogn)

BRAD'S DAY...
I gingerly drove the Geo Storm, dangling bumper and all, down to the body shop this morning. Damage from yesterday's accident will cost $2,000 to fix. The car is only worth $1,050 according to the Blue Book. It's toast. However, they were able to strap the bumper back on so I can temporarily drive it. I just can't go over any bumps or the back end drags...

While at the body shop I saw a little electric Sparrow (Yes, even in Turlock). And since we'll probably be in the auto market I took a second look. I love the concept. But at $15,000 it's a bit (okay, a lot) out of my range...

Dealt with a couple of phone solicitors...

Bought an inexpensive ($60) ukulele. I've been wanting to learn to play something new to add to the unplugged music mix...

Used the Staples rebate to buy Norton anti-virus for the laptop. I've been running McAfee but it misses incoming bombs on occasion and two hours after they've arrived will pop-up a box telling me that it's just taken out a virus package...

Handled several Ministerium issues. What did we do before email?...

Otherwise I've had a productive day working on my sermon for Sunday (1 John 5:13-21).

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Saying that the new law violates their free speech "four telemarketing companies and a trade group filed suit in federal court in Oklahoma City to stop the Federal Trade Commission from setting up a program that would allow consumers to place their names on a list of households that do not want to receive such calls." Even if the court overturns the new regulations I don't think we'd have too much trouble passing a constitutional amendment to shut down the telemarketing business. We could even take care of the spammers at the same time.

The first amendment currently reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." We'd just slip a few words in there: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech -- EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF REGULATING THE LOW LIFES WHO USE THE PHONE AND THE INTERNET TO BADGER PEOPLE TO DEATH, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Nope, we wouldn't have any problem at all passing such an amendment.

COMPUTING POSES HEALTH RISK
My friend, David Ward, sent me to a story in The Australian: "New Zealand researchers have found that sitting at a computer for hours on end can cause fatal blood clots, just as long flights can lead to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), known as economy-class syndrome... They suggest the condition be called 'e-thrombosis'". If there is any consolation in this story it is that David will probably go first since he actually makes a living out of being a geek.

CHURCH GOING MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY...
At least that's what the research seems to indicate. An article in the Church Times states: "The survey, which was commissioned by the Cabinet Office, found that religious people were 'happier than average'; and cites research from the United States which shows that attending church every fortnight 'can have the happiness-equivalent of a doubling of money income'”.

The problem with this kind of research is that it sends the wrong messages. First of all, it assumes that church going is about us and our happiness. Historically, the church has believed that we gather to worship God because he is God -- the creator and the sustainer, the savior -- who deserves the worship of his gathered people. Any benefit that we get from worship is a real but distant secondary factor.

Secondly, this kind of research sends the message that if you're not living a euphoric life then there must be something wrong with your religion. I think of prophets such as Jeremiah and Elijah who were anything but happy a good deal of the time. Their satisfaction came in faithfulness to their call. But by modern definitions of happiness they probably were not very high on the scale.

It's not primarily about us or our happiness -- but about God. "Though he was God, he [Christ Jesus] did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:6-11 (NLT)

BANG! CRASH!
We're down to one car. Someone ran a red light this afternoon and ripped the rear end off our Geo Storm. Neither Kent nor the other driver was injured (PTL). We bought the Storm seven years ago as an around town beater. I kept thinking that it was going to fall apart because it was so flimsily built. But the engine is really tight and up until this point it has just gone on and on -- much to our surprise. Now, though, I doubt it's going to be worth fixing -- the end of an era.

SPAM UPDATE
Half of all email sent to AOL addresses is now spam. Obviously, this isn't just an AOL problem. With 61% of all U.S. adults online (116 million people) the temptation is just too great for unscrupulous people. For $25 someone can buy a disk with a million email addresses. If they get one or two responses out of a million they've more than made their money back. The only real solution is outrageously high fines for spammers. Make it too costly and they'll stop.

SPY PHOTOS REVEAL 5,000 YEAR OLD ROAD SYSTEM
Reuters: "Bronze Age residents of what is now modern-day Iraq, Syria and Turkey traded and traveled more widely along a network of highways than previously thought, archeologists studying newly released U.S. spy photographs said on Monday."

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES (TEENS)



"Why doesn't he just stop talking because every time he says something people become less confident..." -- Volunteered by my 15-year-old daughter who had watched part of the State of the Union speech.

TURLOCK TODAY
It was a beautiful day in Turlock -- even with some clouds it was the first really sunny day since December 23rd (not that we're keeping track or anything). Cheryl and I both have Tuesdays off so we did a lot of running around -- went to the Men's Wearhouse in Modesto (The Board of the Ordered Ministry meets next week and someone seems to think that board attire should be "professional" -- which in the Midwest means you wear a coat, I guess. So I had to go buy one. It's all cultural – not mine – but somebody’s.). We did a little Costco shopping and had lunch. Then I planted 15 redwood seedlings into pots. I'm now nurturing 35 redwood trees. They will eventually form the western perimeter of the church property. Both the apricot and cherry trees seem to think that spring is around the corner -- both have swelling buds. I'm afraid that the apricot tree might have its first bloom while I'm in Chicago next week and I'll miss it.

LEGO STANLEY CUP REPLICA STOLEN



WorldNetDaily is reporting that a 6,000 piece Lego replica of the Stanley Cup was stolen last week from a sports equipment show in Las Vegas. Reward for the return: NHL tickets. (Thanks Boing Boing)

THIRD WORLD INFLUENCE ON U.S.
On Morning Edition this morning, NPR picked up on the growing power shift in Christianity. Among others the story about the Anglican Mission in America featured Philip Jenkins, who spoke at their recent conference. Listen here.

NOT RILED UP OVER IRAQ
An article in Saturday's Washington Post notes that many American evangelicals are relatively silent on the possibility of war with Iraq. Ted Olsen, in his Christianity Today Weblog has a good response. "It may not be that evangelicals are being quiet about their position. It may simply be that they, like much of America, are taking a 'wait and see' approach to the situation. Some evangelical leaders are often criticized for hitting the microphones before all the facts are in. Perhaps they should be applauded for not doing so this time."

On a strictly utilitarian level it seems to me that war will do a lot more harm than good. Furthermore, I haven't seen any real evidence to justify it -- even granting the just war premise. To the contrary, the UN inspectors have found no proof that Iraq is trying to build a nuclear arms program.

I'm not sure if the president is hell-bent on going to war with Iraq or if this is really a part of a grand strategy to squeeze Iraq so tightly that Saddam Hussein pops and we can all live happily ever after.

Tomorrow night the president will give the State of Union address and he'll tell us that he has more information than what he can share with us and that we should just trust him. I don't. He will also say that it's up to Iraq to prove its innocence. In this it seems that the president is cutting across the grain of the American judicial fabric – shredding the edges as he goes.

Still, I'm taking a wait and see approach before getting too riled up. And the president would be wise to do the same. I would rather see him adopt a firm but patient strategy with a lot less of the tough-cowboy rhetoric. In the long run he’d get a lot more done.

There, is that opinion enough?

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
My colleague, Wainer Guimaraes, has been named "citizen of the year", in Riverbank, California, where he is the pastor of The Bridge Covenant Church. Congratulations!

One of Wainer's side projects these days is the development of a Covenant Church connection in his homeland, Brazil (or Brasil, as he prefers).

SUPER BOWL (COMMERCIAL) RESULTS
I think I got most of them – or at least the biggies. Overall the performance was about as lackluster as that of the Raiders.

The results on Brad’s Amusement Scale (BAS) – 1-10 (1 is sad -- 10 is super):
Charles Schwab – 2 (started out great but didn’t go anywhere)
Bud Horses with Zebra ref watching replay – 9
Quiznos – 4
Pepsi Twist with Ozzy – 5
FedEx Castaway – 8
Budlite Weight Lifting – 3
Dodge Ram Heimlich Maneuver – 6
ESPN Sportscenter Superbowl Ring – 4
H&R Block Smoothie – 4
Budlite Upside Down Clown – 7
Debit Master Card – 5
Gatorade, Michael Jordan – 2
Bud Designated Driver – 5
Myfico.com – 2
Michalob Ultra – 1
M-Life Traveling Antique Show Spoof – 8
Budlite 3 Hands – 7
Budweiser Listener – 7
Cadillac CTS “Resistence is Futile” – 7 (the car has as much aesthetic appeal as an Aztec)
Sony Cosmonaut – 7
Diet Pepsi – 5
Rainbow-Connection Hotjobs.com – 6
Subway Jared – 3
Cadillac General – 5
Terry Tate Reebok – 5
George Forman Grill – 4
Bud Think Fresh, “Date Us Both” – 1
Visa Checkcard, Barber Brothers – 6
Levi Jeans Type I Jeans, Bison – 2
M-Lite, Gilligan’s Island – 7
Smirnoff, The Brad – 1
Bud Shell on Ear – 8
Sierra Mist, Chimp in Polar Bear Pool – 8
Trident, “4 out of 5" – 6
Budlite, Dog on Head – 8
Monster.com Semi-Truck – 5
Sierra Mist Dog – 8
Hanes Tagless T-Shirts – 4

IRAQI WOMEN
An article in the San Francisco Chronicle outlines the transformation in the role of women that has gone on in Iraq -- brought on by the economic crisis that resulted from the loss of the Gulf War in 1991. According to some the biggest problem facing Iraqi women is the shortage of wealthy eligible men -- thus the reintroduction of polygamy.

EDITORIAL CORRECTNESS
Tomorrow's Arab News takes on political correctness and the Israeli oppression of Palestinians -- all in one editorial.

POPE RE-EXAMINING HIS POWER
I'm not sure what he has in mind but Pope John Paul II said on Wednesday that he is interested in re-examining "the exercise of papal power" in order to bring about Christian unity. He is quoted as saying: "It appears to me to be useful to propose a common reflection on the ministry of the bishop of Rome with the aim of finding a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation..."

Historically, the Bishop of Rome was seen as the first among equals of five apostolic sees. However, over the centuries the popes kept reading more and more into what being first meant until ultimately in 1050 there was a schism with the Eastern Orthodox bishops (the other four apostolic sees) who were not willing to recognize unilateral papal power.

The 16th century Protestant Reformation also focused on papal claims to power. The reformers had the conviction that the power of the church needed to be subservient to the clear teaching of the Bible. The papists further entrenched their position by restating at the Council of Trent (1564) the doctrine of papal infallibility. It became dogma at the First Vatican Council of 1870.

There are many non-Roman Catholics who would be more than willing to recognize the Pope as a first among equals. But papal infallibility -- at least as it is currently defined will be a stumbling block for both the Protestants and the Orthodox.

Again, I'm not sure what the pope's recent words really mean. But we do know that Pope John Paul II has consistently made the unity of the church a high priority and for that he is to be commended.

SO THAT'S WHY EVERYTHING SLOWED DOWN LAST NIGHT
"WASHINGTON (AP) - Traffic on the Internet slowed dramatically for hours early Saturday, the effects of a fast-spreading, virus-like infection that overwhelmed the world's digital pipelines and broadly interfered with Web browsing and delivery of e-mail. Sites monitoring the health of the Internet reported significant slowdowns globally, although recovery efforts appeared to be succeeding..."

SUPER BOWL
The San Diego Union-Tribune is offering a list of great things to do Sunday afternoon if you're not into football or crowds. I'm not and I'd happy to be in San Diego Sunday. But I do want to see the commercials. And I do know who is going to win. It's the team that plays by the bay and has crossed swords in its logo.

FREE CHURCH PLANTING HANDBOOK
Jerry Reed from North Park Seminary called today to say that he's got nearly 40 students signed-up for his evangelism and church planting class -- way cool. He was wondering if he could get copies of my church planting handbook for the class. I explained that it's distributed solely via the Internet these days. Kids, if you're in his class -- it's one less book to buy. It's a free download -- not even a paypal link. I'm just thrilled that people are using it (When you put a lot of work into something you want it to be helpful). The Getting Started handbook has been the most downloaded resource off my website.

HAROLD CAMPING TELLS LISTENERS TO ABANDON CHURCHES
A radio/television Bible teacher that my children say looks like "he's dead" is calling on people to leave their churches. "'The Bible says God is not saving people any longer in the churches,' Camping said in a recent interview at Family Radio's headquarters in Oakland. 'They're being saved outside the churches.'" According to the AP story, "Some evangelical Christian leaders complain that his call is hurting their churches."

I'm unaware of any affect in our community. I think that most people here have rolled their eyes at him for years. Camping once predicted that Christ would return in September of 1994.

Still, people keep sending him money to keep his Family Radio media network up and running. We get what we pay for.

FREE BIBLE MEMORY PROGRAM
A story in tomorrow's Dallas Morning News talks about a free Bible memory program called InVerse. It looks like the owner has it loaded up on some webspace that comes with his home broadband account. I suspect that by tomorrow he'll be swamped and AT&T will shut down his website because of bandwidth problems. I can't tell if the program is worth the while. But it does look interesting.

"HONEY, IT'S THE POPE"
Roman Catholics in Italy, and soon Australia, can receive a daily phone message from the Pope. It's a text message available to mobile phone users -- for a fee.

EP STILL MICROMANAGING AMERICAN GREEK ORTHODOX
I'm feeling sorry for the poor Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in the US (which by the way, has a wonderful website). In spite of the fact that the Orthodox have been established in the US for over 200 years the Ecumenical Patriarch (the first among equals of the Orthodox patriarchs) has once again refused to grant them autonomy. It's a political control issue -- and money has something to do with it, too. I've been an Orthodox watcher for years and from my outsider perspective the EP, the symbol of Orthodox unity, is the single greatest obstacle to Orthodox unity in the US. Most of the Orthodox I know are too gracious to say this (at least publically), but Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew needs to in one way or another step aside so that the American church can move forward.

CHURCHES BEING RUN OUT OF TOWN
Patrick Korten has an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal outlining the ways that local governments have been manipulating zoning rules to keep churches out. The city of Chicago (my place of birth!) is a major offender. Actually, none of this is new information to those of us who work with new churches. I'm pleased that the problem is getting WSJ exposure.

BROKEN HOMES HARM KIDS MORE
"Children growing up in single-parent families are twice as likely as their counterparts to develop serious psychiatric illnesses and addictions later in life, according to an important new study... Experts say the latest study, published this week in the Lancet medical journal, is important mainly because of its unprecedented scale and follow-up - it tracked about 1 million children for a decade, into their mid-20s." The study used Swedish national registries to track the trends in the population of the Scandinavian country.

Of course, the study doesn't answer the causal questions. Do these children have problems because they grow up in a broken home or do their homes break up because of other issues -- issues that also cause the children to have problems? One other factor which makes the study unique is that it takes place in a country with an extremely wide social care net and thus even the poorest of people are living at a fairly high standard. Single parents are not poor! This suggests that the causes of psychiatric illnesses and addictions can not be directly attributed to poverty (at least in this context). It also calls into question the idea advocated by many in the States that if we could just eliminate poverty then other social problems would evaporate.

I'm not suggesting that we should become any less intent on eliminating poverty but we need to do so realizing that our problems run deeper than lack of wealth.

LUNCH!


Goodies, the candy, ice-cream, and Beanie Babies store a few blocks from where we live, is, as of today, the candy, ice-cream, Beanie-Babies, and Vienna Hot Dog store. Since I'm working on my sermon at home I walked down for a first taste. It's just like what I get when I'm in Chicago -- poppy seed bun and all.

The weather is not at all Chicago-like (sunny 70 degrees) -- so it was a pleasant walk. On the way home I saw a little sparrow size bird with a loud finch-like song -- except it was solid black (rich not glassy) with a smooth gray throat. When in flight, moving from tree to tree, it looked somewhat like a swallow. I have no idea what it was and I couldn't find it in my bird books.

CINDY IS FINE
Dr Cindy Hoover, Covenant missionary in Mexico, just reported in to everyone on Covnet re: the big Mexico City quake last night.

Hi y'all (or all y'all).
I just got back from Mexico City. Yeah, it rocked and rolled a little
last night--but we actually didn't figure it out at first. We were just
sitting around talking (we were having a Mexico mission committee
meeting) and wondering why the light started swaying..... No damage.
No problems in the MC area (other than that since the huge 1985
earthquake, they have "una crisis de nervios" with every rumble).
Colima, however, was badly damaged.

Thanks for the prayers.
Bendiciones.
Cindy Hoover
aka Oaxacadoc

SWEDISH PRINCESS DRAFTED
From an AP story -- "Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria has been drafted, but just for three weeks, to serve in the Scandinavian country's army, part of her preparations as the future monarch of the nation of 8.9 million people."

My grandfather told me that he emigrated from Sweden to avoid the draft. However, I think they wanted him to be in the army for a little longer than three weeks and it wasn't very coed at that point.

EDDIE GIBBS INTERVIEW
Dick Staub has a good interview with Dr Gibbs -- "Eddie Gibbs Reconsiders Gen X Churches." A few years ago I did a review of the book mentioned, ChurchNext.

DOING CHURCH IN A MULTICULTURAL WORLD
The Renewal Project is planning a great looking conference May 15-17 in Oakland, California. Presenters include Juan Carlos Ortiz, Dolphus Weary, Russel Yee, Adam Edgerly, Todd Spitzer, Jim Clites, and Angela Mason. They don't have anything up on their website yet but you can email them for a brochure at trpinc@pacbell.net.

SWEDISH PANCAKES
We had Swedish pancakes for the third evening meal in a row. On Sunday night we had my Sunday School class over for a pancake supper. I made eight batches but really only needed to make five. So we had leftover batter -- which we used last night and tonight. Still tastes great the third day out! Here's the recipe:
1 cup milk (I use skim but obviously regular would make it even richer -- and I actually put in a little more than a cup because I like them thin)
2 beaten eggs
1 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 teaspoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.
Mix the ingrediants and bake on a hot griddle. We used real maple syrup and lingonberries (available in the US at IKEA).

I wish I could say that I got the recipe from my Swedish grandmother. The pancakes do taste just like the ones she made but I found the recipe in the Var Så God cookbook, published by the American Swedish Institute in 1980 (and given to us by my Grandma Edie).

ROE V. WADE REMEMBERED
NPR will air the following opinion piece by Frederica Mathewes-Green on one of their news shows tomorrow:

Thirty years ago, when I was an idealistic college student, I volunteered at a feminist newspaper called "off our backs." The Roe v Wade decision happened the first month I worked there. Our editorial said it didn't go far enough, because Roe requires a woman to have medical reason for abortion in the third trimester.

I thought abortion rights were going to liberate women. Since men never get pregnant, abortion would give us equality in the workplace. And since unwanted children would be aborted, it would eliminate child abuse. Roe v. Wade looked like the first step toward a wonderful new world.

Thirty years later, I'm not so sure. I've heard too many friends say, "I had to have an abortion, I didn't have any choice." I never thought about how abortion would impact other choices. But it changed the pressures a pregnant woman feels. Continuing an unplanned pregnancy can inconvenience a lot of other people ... her parents, her boss, the father of the child. Since Roe, a woman is expected to go away and deal with the problem privately. One woman told me, "I felt like everyone would be there for me if I had the abortion ... but not if I had the baby."

That must be how the numbers got to be so high ... over forty million abortions since Roe. About one for every four live births. It certainly didn't end child abuse. Since the seventies, reported child abuse cases have shot up dramatically, not declined. Yet the mothers of every single person under thirty could have chosen abortion. In that sense, every child today is a wanted child. But a child can be wanted enough during pregnancy, and not so wanted a few months later when they're crying in the middle of the night. Roe established a dangerous principle, that a child is the property of her parents; it teaches that she only deserves to live as long as they want her.

I thought future generations would thank us for winning abortion rights. But now I hear from young people who oppose abortion. They call themselves "Survivors." The mean that all of them could have been legally aborted. A lot of their generation was.

For people like me, over fifty, abortion meant liberation. For young people like them, under thirty, abortion means violence. We were idealists back then, and thought Roe v Wade would create a wonderful new world. Now I think it was a tragedy.

Ditto.

KIDS BORN POST-1982 MORE LIKELY TO BE INTO CHURCH
Quoting William Strauss co-author of Millennials Rising -- "For millennials, it's an organized thing. They're used to organized things -- organized soccer, organized tests... Boomers were raised to not join a Hitler or a Stalin, he adds, and millennials were raised to not be Gen-Xers, with all their attendant cynicism."

And more: "...as the pendulum swings back to the traditional, the 'new Christian' churches that grew at a rapid pace in the 1980s and '90s may find their growth rates leveling. 'Evangelical Christians were a boomer thing,' Strauss explains. 'But church officials at traditional churches -- the Roman Catholics, orthodox Jews and Greek Orthodox -- say they suspect the research is correct.' ...Today's young people need substance over style, they say."

DC WINS LEFT BEHIND CASTING CALL
In case anyone is wondering, I didn't go to DC to participate in the casting call for the Left Behind TV series. As Ted Olsen notes in the Christianity Today Weblog: "The show will air on a Christian station in Canada but will only be available in the U.S. on DVD and VHS (you have to wonder about a show that can't even make it on U.S. Christian television). Many of those auditioning are Christians who see their possible role as ministry. Many others are out-of-work actors who see it as a paycheck."

Many of the rest of us see it as embarrassing.

HISPANICS PASS BLACKS AS LARGEST MINORITY GROUP
In our neck of the woods anglos are the largest minority group and blacks are one of the smallest. ¡Bienvenido a México del norte!

Turlock is a wonderful place to live! I've mentioned before that we live on an international cul-de-sac. Our next door neighbor is Taiwanese. Behind us is an Assyrian family. On the other side of us is a Punjabi family. Next to them are some other Euro-mutts (like ourselves), next to them a Mexican family, next to them a Portugese family, next to them (and across the street from us) another Punjabi family... And it goes on with more first and second generation immigrants. I can hear at least five languages spoken while I'm gardening in my backyard. And when everyone starts to cook -- wow!

DRAFT CONSTITUTION DECLARES ISLAM
OFFICIAL RELIGION OF PALESTINE
No suprise there. But it's not likely to be good for the 50,000 Palestinian Christians who remain.

NEXT BEST THING TO SELLING INDULGENCES
In a news release today, Zenit, a Roman Catholic news agency makes an offer that's hard to refuse. "The Medallion of the Pontificate Can Be Yours ! The person who registers most [sic] gift subscriptions will receive The Gold Medal of the Pontificate (this is the same medallion that the Holy Father gives to Heads of State when they visit the Vatican). ZENIT will also award Silver papal medallions to the persons who register the greatest number of gift subscriptions in each of the different language editions (Spanish, English, French, and German). Finally, runners-up in each language edition will receive 10 rosaries blessed by the Pope. The ZENIT 2002-2003 Gift Campaign in English will end on January 26. Give a ZENIT subscription now!"

FOX TO GUARD HENHOUSE
It would be wise to read between the lines. Libya was the ONLY country nominated by the African region to head up the UN Human Rights Commission. Why? What is Africa trying to communicate to the United States of America? Whatever it is, Americans won't get it. At a time when international dialog is essential it further devalues the credibility of the United Nations and feeds ammo to John Birch and friends.

TEN EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
THAT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD
Thanks to Jordon Cooper for putting me on to an article in the MIT Technology Review. Coming soon:
1. wireless sensor networks
2. injectable tissue engineering
3. nano solar cells
4. mechatronics
5. grid computing
6. molecular imaging
7. nanoimprint lithography
8. software assurance
9. glycomics
10. quantum cryptography

If you're really in need of amusement copy this post into a word processor and turn the spell check loose on it -- a good chance to update your dictionary.

MY BIG FAT GREEK FLOP
I liked the movie. Americans liked the movie. Canadians liked the movie (especially since it stared Canadian Nia Vardalos -- also the writer). BUT the Greeks (I mean the real Greeks) didn't find much humor in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Maybe they didn't get the Windex thing.

MORAVIAN DAILY TEXTS TODAY
"The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you." Leviticus 19:34 & "Practice hospitality." Romans 12:13b (KJV)

COST OF SMOKING
Incredible! A new study from the University of California San Francisco says that smoking costs California taxpayers $16 billion A YEAR! Of the 4.7 million people in the state who smoke, 43,000 die of smoking related diseases EVERY YEAR! The economic impact alone (aside from the human impact, which doesn't seem to motivate us too much) should be enough to move toward a total ban.

SUNLIGHT
Tomorrow is significant in the Turlock area because it will be the first day this year in which we will have 10 or more hours of sunlight. Of course, this is assuming that we will see the sun at all. The end of December and all of January are pretty gray months here with ground fog ("tule fog") locking up the valley. Occasionally it will burn off for an hour in the afternoon -- but mostly it is gray and damp. A ten mile drive east of town, starting to climb into the Sierra Nevada foothills will often take you out of the fog. But mostly we just live with it. I'm ready for it to be over. And indeed in a week or two -- maybe three -- this whole winter thing will be gone. The leaves will return to the almond trees. The blooms will pop out by the end of Febraury and we'll be looking a lot more like California than England. I better get to pruning the apricot and cherry trees this week. Time is quickly running out. Yes!!!

FROM MEXICO TO MECCA
Rudy Carrasco points to this story from the San Franciso Chronicle. Apparently some Hispanics are embracing Islam as a reaction to perceived failures in Christianity. The problem with these stories in this era of heightened awareness of Islam is that they tend to give the impression that Islam is growing at a phenominal rate and is overshadowing Christianity. Not that I want to play "my religion is bigger than your religion" -- but such is not the case, as has been pointed out so well by Philip Jenkins -- "As the media have striven in recent years to present Islam in a more sympathetic light, they have tended to suggest that Islam, not Christianity, is the rising faith of Africa and Asia, the authentic or default religion of the world's huddled masses. But Christianity is not only surviving in the global South, it is enjoying a radical revival, a return to scriptural roots..." See also this interview with Jenkins.

RADICAL ALTRUISM
Great story in the Dallas Morning News -- a quote: "It's not that Good Samaritans are born nice, although some people might be. But they generally were taught young that putting themselves on the line for strangers is the normal, expected thing to do. And, for them, the teaching stuck."

Dr. Samuel Oliner, a Humboldt State University sociologist, has made a career of studying radical altruism. Oliner himself was saved from the Nazis by someone who stuck her neck out. In his new book, Do Unto Others: Extraordinary Acts of Ordinary People, he contends that generally speaking altruistic people are unusually empathetic; they've been taught that it's normal to care about strangers and that they owe something to society; they often have some spiritual or religious grounding that they cite as motivation or justification for their actions; they believe they can make a difference; and they're willing to take risks.

SPAM COUNTERMEASURES
Several hundred programmers met at MIT yesterday to brainstorm on ways to defeat spam. "William S. Yerazunis, an MIT computer scientist, compared spam to petty street crime - cheap to carry out, profitable for the offender and enormously expensive to halt. 'It's really theft,' said Yerazunis, 46, a researcher at MIT's Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories. 'And the theft efficiency ratio is about the same as stealing hubcaps and car radios.'"

Frankly, I don't see the solution as technical but political. There's always going to be some smart hacker who will come up with an end-run around whatever technical solution the good guys come up with. We just have to make the price of spaming so expensive that it won't be worth the risk of engaging in such anti-social behavior.

GIANT BURRITOS?
Sean Meade is highlighting the Chipotle website. Great site. I don't know if the burritos are any good. They look a little small to me -- compared to what we get here in Mexico Norte -- real burritos, con real cilantro, made by real Mexicans in a real taco truck. However, since I like the website so much I'll try to look for a Chipotle the next time I head to the big city.

I'm not sure I could live anywhere which lacked real Mexican food (and I’m not talking about Taco Bell) -- physical impossibility.

MULTIPLEX CHURCH
The Scotsman is reporting on a proposal by a Church of Scotland minister to build "large out-of-town multiplexes shared by a range of denominations..."

"The Rev Erik Cramb, co-ordinator of the Scottish Churches’ Industrial Mission, even suggested a disused cinema multiplex could house the church of the future. The concept mirrors the increasingly varied ways religions across the world are trying to attract more people. In America, drive-through churches and churches in shopping malls have become commonplace, whilst in Germany, roadside chapels on the autobahns have attracted thousands of new worshippers."

FINGER PRINTS GIVE AWAY AL-QAEDA SUSPECTS
Tomorrow's Arab News is reporting that "two Al-Qaeda suspects were arrested this week as they tried to enter the United States. Their fingerprints gave them away. Their digitalized digits matched prints registered by US military officials in Afghanistan taken from documents found in caves there."

AMiA UP TO 12,000 MEMBERS, 55 CONGREGATIONS
David Virtue reports on the emerging Anglican Mission in America

TOWN BANS SMALL CHURCHES?
A Pentecostal church in Brighton Township, Pennsylvania, is suing local officials for denying the congregation the right to build on its property. Beaver Assembly of God filed a federal lawsuit against the township after being prohibited from developing its 3.2 acres site because it does not meet the community's five acre minimum lot size for "places of worship."

If the story in the Charisma News article is accurate the church will be able to buy at least five acres with the settlement they receive when this whole thing is over. However, there are definitely pieces of the story missing. Frankly, it seems too unlikely that in this day and age any town is going to try and restrict the size of a church -- especially a small one! According to minutes from the Brighton Township Board of Supervisors there was a public hearing on Monday, January 13th to consider the church's use permit. But the next actual meeting of the board isn't until February. It looks to me like the town's machinery is still in process on this. If so, it's possible that the church has filed a suit to pressure the town to act expeditiously.

THERE IS HOPE
In spite of the fact that most Americans feel that we were unable to finish the job during the Gulf War... In spite of the fact that Saddam is an evil and dangerous man... In spite of the terrorist roller coaster we've all been on since 9-11... In spite of all of the cowboy tough-talk coming from the White House... Americans are still unconvinced that going to war is a good way to deal with these problems. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised at the depths of American character. It's possible that the United States will be driven by the "order of necessity" to fight a war. But the good sign is that Americans are not hungry for blood.

DESULTORY BANNED IN CHINA
Apparently concerned over the destabilizing power of blogs, the Chinese government has moved to block blogspot websites -- including this one. I'm still trying to figure out which of my posts upset Bejing so much. I have noticed a drop in traffic. Thanks to Andrew Careaga for putting me on to this.

US SENDS EMAIL ATTACKS TO IRAQIS
Don't we have some kind of treaty or law banning spam warfare? No wonder the Iraqis don't like us -- they know how low we'll stoop.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIISTS MAY ADD GOD...
William Sinkford, the former atheist who is now president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, is pushing to put the word "God" into a new statement of principles. "These are troubled times, and we need to reclaim our goals and values," Sinkford said. "We need to be able to say Unitarian Universalists believe there is one God, and that God is a loving God who would condemn no one out of hand." This is a controversal proposal in the denomination "which ordains gays and lesbians and embraces many unorthodox members, including pagans and Wiccans..."

BRAD'S DRINK
According to the current issue of Mental Floss, the original name of Pepsi Cola was Brad's Drink. It's amazing -- the lengths that Pepsico has gone to avoid paying royalties to me.

The truth is that I do drink a lot of soda (not much on coffee or tea) -- almost exclusively diet, caffeine-free cola. I don't mind either the Coca-Cola or the Pepsi-Cola versions but my preference is Safeway Select. I don't know why. It just tastes better. Please don't send me mail telling me that artificial sweeteners are the downfall of western civilization, the cause of my mental deterioration, or that there is nothing to diet caffeine-free cola other than food coloring and water. I already know these things. It's just that it's Brad's Drink.

IS GOD EXCITING ENOUGH? QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Richard Winter, author of Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment: Rediscovering Passion and Wonder in an interview on the Christianity Today site: We're so dependent on things being exciting. Even as I listen to people giving announcements in church—especially for the youth—everything has got to be really exciting to grab their attention. There's a danger in our worship services when we try to become entertaining. It's of course good to use illustrations, variety, visual aids, and so on, but one can go over the top so that it just becomes another theatrical production to give people a good feeling, which they then may mistake for an experience of God. But really it's just generated by the sort of entertainment. God occasionally does amazing, wonderful, and miraculous things. But most of the time, it is the ordinary things of life that he works through. I think our dependence on this sort of hyperstimulation and busyness makes it very hard for us to be content with the small things, with the quieter moments.

ERASING HARDDRIVE MAY NOT DO IT
Two MIT graduate students, Simson Garfinkel and Abhi Shelat bought 158 used hard drives at secondhand computer stores and on eBay. "Of the 129 drives that functioned, 69 still had recoverable files on them and 49 contained 'significant personal information' - medical correspondence, love letters, pornography and 5,000 credit card numbers. One even had a year's worth of transactions with account numbers from a cash machine in Illinois."

They suggest that "the only sure way to erase a hard drive is to 'squeeze' it: writing over the old information with new data - all zeros, for instance - at least once, but preferably several times. A one-line command will do that for Unix users, and for others, inexpensive software from companies such as AccessData works well."

I have an even more thorough approach. The last time I threw a computer away I removed the hard drive and spent 5 minutes hammering it into little pieces. Not only did it remove any possibility that someone might get my secure information but it also felt good. Computer therapy.

CREATIVE SOLUTION?



Soap Lake, Washington, a once bustling spa town in eastern Washington State is getting down-right creative in their attempt to revitalize the community. The latest proposal: a 60+ foot high lava lamp that would sit in the center of town -- hopefully attracting tourists. I'd stop to take a look the next time I'm traveling I-90.

CALGARY COMING THRU LOUD & CLEAR
The atmospheric conditions are such tonight that I am receiving CBC Calgary (AM 1010) on the car radio. And I'm in Turlock, California -- that's 2,345 km away!

NEWSPAPER BANS SCRIPTURE
The Daily Journal in International Falls, Minnesota, has banned scripture quotations from columns submitted by local clergy. It sounds like some preacher got carried away and instead of actually trying to edit the columns the newspaper just banned biblical quotations. Of course, it's kind of like telling a physician that she's not allowed to use any medical terminology in a medical column. Silly. But then again, most newspapers have completed dropped their clergy columns altogether. It sounds like a creative opportunity to me.

WITNESS LEE GROUP SUES FOR $136 MILLION
& RIGHT TO BE CALLED "EVANGELICAL"
From Christianity Today -- The Local Church insists it is evangelical, not a cult. Living Stream Ministry (LSM), the group's nonprofit publishing corporation, has joined the main trade group for evangelical publishers and hired a top literary agent for Christian writers. Living Stream points to its statement of faith as proof of its orthodox beliefs.

Local Church leaders are fending off their critics in court. Living Stream, the Local Church, and affiliated congregations are jointly suing evangelical author and television host John Ankerberg, coauthor John Weldon, and Harvest House Publishers for libel, seeking $136 million in damages. Their Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, first published in 1999, includes an article critical of the Local Church.

I don't understand why, if as Barna recently suggested, evangelicals are one of the least respected groups in America, this group wants to be seen as among us. Aren't they better off just being a "cult"? The Mormons got over it and look how well they're doing!

Along a related vein, Michael Spencer has been asking "Why do they hate us? Evangelical Christians are almost universally disliked. Is there a good reason?" Frankly, I can understand why MOST evangelicals get a bad rap. But I don't understand why people continue to dislike even those of us who are more perfect evangelicals -- kind, thoughtful, theologically easy-going, seeker-friendly, upbeat, good looking, and humble...

Then the whole issue is compunded by a bunch of these local church guys trying to weasel in on our success. Go figure.

CAMERA-CELL PHONES & PRIVACY
They're concerned in Hong Kong...

JUST THE FACTS, MAME, JUST THE FACTS
Joe Friday is back (again!) with ABC's mid-season attempt to rescue ratings and ride the current wave of cop show success -- starts February 2nd. This could be the boost that the LAPD needs -- although I think that they'll probably need to bring back Pete Malloy and Jim Reed (the Adam 12 crossover show, which in turn spun off Emergency), too, if they're going to restore the department's tarnished image.

Personally, I'd really like to see the return of Car 54, Where Are You? -- talk about solid police work. Listen.

OPEN CANADA-US BORDER
The Canadian Council of Chief Executives wants to create "a jointly managed North American perimeter with a common approach to borders, trade, immigration, security and defence ["defense" for you Yanks]". This would make the Canadian-US border ("boundary" for you Canuks) an internal check point.

I've wondered for years why we haven't tried to pull this off. It seems to work quite well in Europe. And it's certainly not the Canadians that we're worried about!

25% OF THE CHILDREN TO BECOME ORPHANS
"A quarter of children in Ethiopia could be orphaned by the HIV/AIDS virus within eight years, experts warned on Friday. The warning came during a conference on HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, where it was also revealed that 2.2 million Africans are dying of the virus each year..." allAfrica.com

DOWNSHIFTERS
"Research by the Australia Institute shows that nearly one person in four between the ages of 30 and 60 has, in the past 10 years, voluntarily taken a pay cut - by changing career, reducing work hours or stopping work altogether - in exchange for a better lifestyle. And that's excluding those moving into planned retirement. And while the largest single determining factor in the shift was to spend more time with family, the statistics do not include women who have taken time out after giving birth."

Among the downshifters is Anglican bishop Philip Huggins who recently quit his episcopal position to become a parish priest, allowing him to spend more time with his teenage sons (less travel).

Them Aussies seem to know what they're doing.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"NyQuil... the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching how the heck did I end up on the kitchen floor medicine... not just for Baptists anymore!!!" -- Scott Ward, posted today on the Boar's Head.

EOGHAN HEASLIP, MERCY




Dan Whitmarsh, a terrific musician in his own right, has a review of this new CD. You can access the whole review thru the Abet list archives.

Dan writes: This album was just handed to me by a friend who works in the local christian bookstore. It hasn't been out of my CD player yet, except to transport it from home to car to office. The album, recorded live at CORE church, is well-produced and very strong for a first offering. It reflects the tenor of much gen-x, post-modern worship, with lyrical melodies, deep, God-focused lyrics, a powerful band that shines but doesn't overpower, and songs that you keep humming after you head out the door. At my first listening I simply put the CD on in the dark and let the music flow over me, allowing it to lead me into a spirit of worship that was both profound and exciting.

worshipmusic.com has this album featured on the front page of their site.

POMO RANT
There's been a bit of "discussion" on Next-Wave. Josh Dulaney, a 29-year-old pastor says that the pomo king isn't wearing any clothes (That was last month). Iggie Krug retorts that it's a prophetic movement (That is this month).

I say that whole rant is deja vu of what I was hearing from the emerging generations of the 60's, the 70's, and the 80's. "Everything has totally changed. It's a new world out there [translate "new paradigm"]. So everything has to be reinvented for us!"

I'm not denying that there is a lot of change going on. I like change. I find it challenging. I'm not saying that we don't need to make some major adjustments. It's just that in western culture, since WWII, each "emerging generation" of young adults seems totally enamored with themselves and their place in the world -- to the point of thinking that there is no or little continuity with the past. But the fact is, regardless of which generation is emerging, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

My point -- let's spend less time TALKING about how different we are from each other and just get on with being who we are -- the church. If we are different, it is different from the rest of the world. Everyone else seems to find their identity in their little niches. But in Christ we are not Gentiles or Jews, male or female, skaters or preppies, management or labor, slaves or free, pomos or boomers... We're something else -- totally different -- "in Christ" -- the third way.

US WILL CONSIDER NORTH KOREA AID
Perhaps the headline should have said something about nuclear blackmail! I'm not saying that it's a bad idea -- just call it what it is. The whole North Korea thing has got to be one of the most frustrating situations for diplomats. They know that the country is starving and at the same time that it is stubbornly trying to save face in the world. The diplomatic corp has my admiration.

A COUPLE OF GOOD SERMONS ON BAPTISM
Everett Wilson has posted his sermon from this morning on the Abet list. You can access it from the archives. (Occasionally the system will ask for a yahoo id). Ev always has a way of putting things that is just a little bit different. He may raise your blood pressure or lower it -- depending on where you're at.

Steve Bilynskyj also has a good one -- meaty, as usual. But he only leaves his posted for about a week.

RESHUFFLING THE DECK


Adam Edgerly

Adam Edgerly, whom I am convinced is one of the sharpest young Evangelical leaders in America, has been working for the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church as director of church planting and holistic ministry. On February 1st he will be changing jobs and joining Dave Gibbons on the staff of NewSong Church in Irvine. Adam will be leading a team to develop NewSong's multi-site in the Crenshaw area of LA. He will continue to do some contract work with the conference, too (fortunately).

Adam's departure has caused a reshuffling of responsibilities for new church plants and I've ended up with a new coaching assignment. I'll be working with the South East Asian Covenant Church in Fresno and their church planter Kong Sitthi. Kong, a Lao, is another exceptional person that I've actually known for 10+ years. This is also an exciting assignment for me because our congregation is providing some of the funding to launch the church.

"BLESSED IS SHE WHO CONSIDERS THE POOR" -- PSALM 41:1
The Star-Tribune carries a feel good story about a woman who gives stuff away (lots of stuff!!!) to the needest of people in the Twin Cities area.

WE'RE HELPING THE ECONOMY
Cheryl and I purchased a sofa and love seat this afternoon from a small family-run furniture store in downtown Turlock which caters to Hispanics -- Minervas. We got a great deal and enjoyed dealing with some wonderful people. We got talking and figured out that the owners live around the block from us. The irony is that while we've been looking for a sofa and love seat for over a year, we went into the store yesterday because we're also looking for a table and they had some out on the sidewalk (We'd never been in there). Then we saw the couch. We bought the furniture at about 4 p.m. this afternoon and they delivered about 6 p.m. Sometimes it's the little surprises, like a deal in an unexpected place and personalized service, that makes life truly enjoyable.

HOLY WAR
Interesting use of words from an atheistic communist government: SEOUL, South Korea - (AP) North Korea called for a ``holy war against the United States'' today and declared it was ready to resume missile tests and may start reprocessing spent fuel rods from its nuclear reactor to make atomic bombs.

The absurdity of the North Korean position reminds me of the movie The Mouse that Roared.

YET ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON ISLAM
A Roman Catholic priest resident in the Persian Gulf shares his experience living as a minority in a predomeniently Muslim world. Father John Van Deerlin:

"I think Muslims are the best friends we have, really," he says. "I know that sounds silly. But they are God-fearing, hard-working, family-loving people."

Do best friends destroy buildings and shoot missionaries?

Those are the puritanical fringe, he says, "which is not reflective of Islam." Judging Muslims by these acts is like judging Americans by the worst TV sitcom.

HOW ABOUT ONE OF THESE?



If my children object to replacing one of our gas-guzzling-only-around-town-beater-cars with a GEM ("not cool enough") -- how about a Zap? Zap unveiled an electronic automobile yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. No price tag, yet. But I hope it wouldn't cost more than a Hummer.

SCOTTISH SUPERCHURCH
Bucking trends toward decentralization, four Scottish denominations are planning to form a single "superchurch" according to a BBC article. The plan, due to be revealed next week, will suggest bringing together the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the United Reform Church, and the Methodists as a single religious institution. It will be interesting to see if this has any kind of grassroots backing or if it's simply an attempt by out-of-touch hierarchs to address the acute decline in all four bodies. Generally speaking, organizational mergers of church bodies look something like this: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.

WAR ON IRAQ & THE ASSYRIANS
Martin Roth's Christian Commentary wonders about the effects that war might have on the Assyrian community. This is a big issue in Turlock, where I live. We have one of the largest concentrations of Assyrians in the US. These are my neighbors and the people in our congregation. Most still have family members living in their ancestral lands -- now divided between the modern countries of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey.

My auto mechanic likes my facial hair because it reminds him of the Arab sheiks back home (who he probably made fun of as a kid). BTW, westerners have a hard time telling the difference, but Assyrians are not Arabs. And they are definitely not Muslims -- or fans of the leadership in Iraq -- different history, different culture, different outlook, different religion. Because of several waves of genocide and persecution most Assyrians now live outside the Middle East -- a disapora. The Assyrian language is a variation of Aramaic -- the language which Jesus spoke.

The NY Times Magazine had an article last Sunday on the cultural background of various places in Iraq.

AN UNUSUAL NEW CHURCH
$3.7 million, 35,000-square-foot Keystone Community Church, in Ada, Michigan will be built on 36 acres and will feature a resturant nearly as large as its auditorium. This is a church that offers intermission with popcorn and cappuccino. Seriously. Whatever.

FUTUREWISE
Jordon Cooper has a very fine interview with Patrick Dixon, author of Futurewise, on his blog today.

NO COMMENT DEPARTMENT
From an article in the Christian Century regarding St. Gregory's Episcopal Church in San Francisco: "Does something distinctly Christian emerge from St. Gregory's open and religiously diverse congregation? Without creedal consensus, can one build a community patterned on Jesus' community of disciples? The rectors and the congregation struggle with these questions. They are trying, Schell wrote recently, to find 'a way to be truly christian that does not exclude, condemn or marginalize experiences that are not christian.' (Schell says he uses the small 'c' for 'christian' to suggest that 'we don't mean to claim exclusive right to that identity.')"

WESLEY NELSON
Wesley Nelson, a well-known and well-loved pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church died this morning. Wesley was always a fresh unpretentious voice -- even into his retirement. He was always learning -- always risking. Praise God for the gift of this man!

Three of his recent Advent meditations can be seen here using RealPlayer.

ON OZZY'S BEHALF
Terry Mattingley's column this week is a call for mercy and sanity -- worth hearing.

UNORGANIZED RELIGION
David Yount argues that the problem with religion is organization. This is a common argument that surfaces every time the weaknesses of the organizations are laid out bare. Of course, if you push on the idea too much you end up with a Gnosticism that is contrary to Christianity. Perhaps the criticism should be aimed at an overorganized religion or a misorganized religion. There is a world of difference between the ecclesiastical structures in my own Evangelical Covenant Church and the politically charged Episcopal Church or the scandalized Roman Catholic Church. We have organization but the church itself isn't defined by the organization. We have politics but politics doesn’t drive the church. And there is a level of fluidity that I appreciate. No church organization is going to be perfect. Like individual Christians, churches are both "saints and sinners" at the same time. But just because some dogs have a lot of fleas doesn't mean that all dogs are flea ridden – or that flea bitten dogs have to remain so.

JUST LIKE IN MINORITY REPORT -- SORT'A
Retina scanner installed in school cafeteria.

UNIVERSITY OF SACRAMENTO
The Legion of Christ is planning to develop a Roman Catholic university in the Sacramento, California area.

HOME, SICK
I'm still home, sick with a cold. Although I am not going thru nearly as many boxes of Kleenex. And my head is a lot clearer. It's just that everything has moved down into my chest. I am going to try to go in to teach d/c (discipleship/confirmation) this afternoon. With the holiday break I haven't seen some of the kids in ages and I miss them. I'm not so sure they miss me! But I'm sure they'll enjoy listening to my voice squeak and break apart -- highpoint of a junior high student's relationship with an adult.

MORE IN THE REALLY-OUT-THERE CATEGORY
"Jesus was almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal properties of the drug, according to a study of scriptural texts published this month. The study suggests that Jesus and his disciples used the drug to carry out miraculous healings."

PAT ROBERTSON & AL QAEDA -- THE LINK
I'm no Pat Roberston fan but the absurd logic used by Tom Tomorrow in his Salon comic to tie Robertson in with Al Qaeda is really out there. The next thing you know Tomorrow will have Roberston funding Raelian research.

CHANGES IN CHRISTIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY
Frank Breeden announced his resignation as president of the Gospel Music Association. What makes his resignation significant is his reasoning. '''It is a time for change,' he said. 'This is going to be a difficult music industry in the next five years.' So-called Generation Y, those ages 8 to 25, 'are going to consume entertainment differently,' he said. 'It's time to reconfigure our thinking about how we do business.'"

It's all about consumption. Things haven't changed that much -- even the so-called pomos are still just consumers. Except, I would argue that they are the ultimate consumers -- individualizing and customizing everything. That's going to be the challenge for the mass marketers.

INTERNET NOVELTIES
Cute New Year's greeting (make sure the speakers are on).... Frodo has failed!!!...

MEGA DEVELOPMENT IN ARIZONA
In November the town council of Buckeye, Arizona (western edge of the Phoenix sprawl) approved the mega development of a planned community the size of Tempe (83,000 homes!). The Toyota Motor Company, which owns a neighboring property, that they use for testing, has gathered enough signatures to bring this issue to the voters. The Toyota people oppose it because they say that pumping water for 83,000 houses out of the Hassayampa River aquifer will damage their land. Out here in the West it's all about water.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"'Worship is a form of entertainment,' said Al Perry, technical adviser for media ministry at Fort Foote Baptist Church in Fort Washington, which included a $300,000 audiovisual system as part of a $6 million sanctuary it completed a year ago. 'If people are not entertained, they don't feel like they're participating.'"

I suppose if content no longer matters all you have to do is turn up the volume and people feel fulfilled.

NEW DRURY CHAPTER
Keith Drury has a new chapter in the primer he is writing about "ministry" up on the web.

QUANTIFYING HAPPINESS
FWIW: Happiness = P + 5E + 3H

PICTURE ID
About once every two or three years I get sick. It happened to me Sunday afternoon while I was delivering our son Kirk back to UC San Diego. Coughing, wheezing, runny nose, the whole shebang. So on the way back north on Monday morning I stopped at the Kmart in Temecula to stock up on Kleenex and drugs.

I don’t know what it is about Kmart – they’re pretty much the same everywhere – dingy lighting, narrow isles, and stock hanging off the shelf. And, yes, there was a message over the PA system that thanked me for helping with the Kmart recovery and reassuring me that they are going to be around for the long-haul. I have my doubts, since I think I was the only customer in the whole store (and this is a BIG K!).

When it came time to check out, I walked to the front and not a single cash register was staffed. About that time a second customer walked into the store. He could have been the assistant manager -- for all I know. But I think he was just a nice customer. He saw the bewildered look on my face and pointed me to the self-check-out line. No cashier needed! Cool! I can now go to Kmart and never have to relate to a person! AND I get to swipe my own merchandise across the all-knowing upc reader which rewards me with a beep (just like Pavlos' dog) each time I successfully make a transacation.

The automated cashier was easy enough to work. But I made a terrible mistake – a grave error of judgment. I used my credit card to pay! And that set off all the sirens and whistles and brought a cashier my direction. Why? The machine required human verification of my photo ID. It said so right on the self-serve screen.

Why is it that I had just pumped $20 worth of fuel at the gas station and that machine didn’t even require any kind of signature – let alone someone to look at my driver’s license? But when I bought $4 worth of Kleenex and generic pseudoephed someone had to come look at my ID and my signature.

Frankly, I find it humiliating every time some proprietor wants to see my license. It’s an affront to my dignity. I can understand that some stores don’t trust their customers as much as other stores. So they have some kind of loss prevention strategy – but it’s still humiliating. Kmart didn’t have faith in me – even though I was at that moment a part of the new Kmart miracle -- restoring the corporation to solvency. And I use the word "miracle" loosely. Don’t blame God if they don’t make it! After all, they just wasted big bucks on a self-serve check-out system which still requires human attention for most every transaction.

Of course, it’s not only Kmart that disses the dignity of their customers. A few weeks ago I was going thru the check-out line at the Turlock Target store and the 18-year-old cashier wanted to see my ID. Oh, did I mention that he’s a member of our congregation and I preach to him every Sunday? He plays in the youth worship band with my number two son. He knows my face better than he wants to. But still, he has to ask for my picture ID – “company policy.”

This is how people living under totalitarian oppressive regimes must feel -- humiliated -- a thousand times worse than what I feel at some big box store. Every time they cross a checkpoint or enter a store they have to whip out their ID and undergo a personal inspection. Again, I can understand why the Israeli soldiers do that sort of thing to the Palestinians. It’s a part of their loss prevention strategy. But it’s also a part of the humiliation strategy. And it shouldn’t surprise the Israelis that humiliated people backed into a corner are going to behave like wild animals.

The irony, of course, is that we live in the “land of the free – home of the brave.” So when someone wants to see an American’s ID it’s usually not a government agent – but a corporate agent. Unlike the rest of the world, we aren’t humiliated by the government as often as we are by our businesses. Where is the real power center of this nation?

So, what should we do about it? I’ll tell you what I do. I don't get mad. I get even. Every time some 19-year-old credit card jockey wants to see my ID I muster up as much enthusiasm as the day allows, smile as big as I can, and say, “Sure, no problem!” This enthusiasm, of course, raises their suspicions so they look twice as long and twice as hard at that little picture that no longer looks like me.

But, after all, Jesus said that if a soldier requires you to carry their equipment for a mile. Go a second mile. If they take your coat, give them your shirt, too. If they want to see your picture ID – give them a smile with it – no matter how humiliated you feel.

ELVIS LIVES (IN CANADIAN CHURCH)



From the National Post: "A priest who was banned from the pulpit by Anglican bishops for donning a velvet Elvis suit during wedding and funeral ceremonies will hold the first service of a breakaway church tomorrow in Newmarket. Reverend Dorian Baxter, more often known as Elvis Priestly, says he has received support from disenfranchised Christians all over the country for the creation of the Grace-Land Independent Anglican Church." Don't miss the whole story.

RUSS REEVES ON ISLAM...
"I won't defend the way these three choose to criticize Islam, but it's hard not to notice a strange trend: When Jerry Falwell said Islam is a religion of terrorism, Islamic clerics said this was false, and called for Falwell's assassination. When Pat Robertson said Islam is a religion of war, Islamic clerics said this was false, and called for Robertson's assassination..." Read all of Russ' comments here.

Russ used to pop in on the Evang-Ortho discussion list and I always found his comments stimulating. Then I found his blog the other day and I patted myself on the back for being such a good surfer. He's a professor of Church History at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois -- a little more on the Reformed side than myself. But he's always thoughtful and stimulating. Not to be confused with Russ Reeves the commedian.

TODAY IS EPIPHANY
In the West it is the 12th day of Christmas, the commemoration of the arrival of the Magi. In the East Epiphany is a celebration of the baptism of Jesus (although most of the Eastern churches are on the Julian calendar and celebrate Christmas/the feast of Nativity on Western January 7th this year and Epiphany/Theophany will be on the Western January 19th ).

Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Grant that your people may shine with the radiance of his glory, that he may be known, worshiped and obeyed to the ends of the earth, now and forever. -- Book of Common Order (Church of Scotland)

DAILY PRAYER
I had seen the Church of England's preliminary edition of their new Common Worship: Daily Prayer online. It looked like a good resource so I ordered it in book form. I had to get it from amazon.co.uk. It arrived as quickly as any amazon book shipped in the US!

The book itself isn't exactly user-friendly. Leave it to the Anglicans to build in a lot of page flipping for those who are going to try and do worship right out of the book. There are morning prayer and evening prayer services. But the "Prayer During the Day" service is probably the most workable for us non-monastic types. It looks like it would work well for personal devotions or even for use with a small group of people which wants to get together for common prayer and using a loose structure.

THE TRIP HOME
This morning I took I-15 up from San Diego in order to avoid the rush hour gridlock in LA's I-5 and 405 corridor. It was a good adventure because I got to see places like Temecula and Murrieta. I also came upon a wreck that had just happened -- two cars were totally engulfed in flames. It looked like everyone was alright and a fire official happened upon the scene at the same time. So I moved on to get out of the way.

The LA basin was incredibly windy with rolling clouds of brown dust sandblasting the car. There were some brush fires adding to the yuk in the air, too. As I got up closer to the San Gabriel Mountains, though, it was relatively calm and a chamber of commerce day. I discovered that the 210 now extends east at least as far as I-15 so I took it west all the way in and made a pit stop at the Fuller Seminary bookstore in Pasadena. Talk about gridlock. The line was a mile long with students waiting to buy books for the winter term. Been there, done that. So I didn't do it again. I left without buying anything.

I headed up over the Grapevine and dropped back into the Central Valley -- which was visibly socked in with winter fog. But once I got down to the valley floor the sun was shining. The almond trees in the Bakersfield area are already getting their spring leaves.

ROAD TRIP
After all the church activities this morning I drove Kirk back to school -- any excuse to go down to San Diego. No traffic problems whatsoever -- even thru LA -- where the skies were clear -- 80 something degrees warm. It took 6 hours driving time. But we stopped for an hour at the Irvine-Tustin IKEA to get the manager's special in the cafeteria. Driving along the ocean was spectacular -- sliver of a moon reflecting over the calm ocean. Kirk and I went to the beach for a few minutes after we got to SD. Back to Turlock tomorrow. Kirk has a class that starts at 10 a.m.

KEITH DRURY'S NEW BOOK
Keith Drury is writing a book online -- an introduction to what it means to be a minister. So far he has a preface, introduction, and chapter 1 up on his site. He's looking for input.

JOHN WESLEY
2003 marks the 300th anniversary of John Wesley's birth. So those wonderfully pietistic folks at Ship-of-Fools are providing daily readings from his journal all year long.

I'M FAMOUS!
...well, if a small quotation in the Modesto Bee = fame. I was among several pastors in the area polled for information about (drum roll please -- hint, hint, It's not the possibility of war or the moral state of the nation) -- church seating. Earth shattering isn't it? I hope the junior high school where we met for six years isn't insulted because I said that their folding chairs are crummy and uncomfortable (They already know it). Their chairs are no reflection on the school, their hospitality, or the quality of education received by students there.

BIBLE TRANSLATION MADE EASY?
The currently featured resource on gospelcom.net is an introduction to Bible translation on the International Bible Society's site. Nice article which doesn't require a PhD in linguistics to understand.

When I do Bible study I use two translations, in addition to original language resources. The New Living Translation is on the dynamic equivelence end of the spectrum and the English Standard Version is on the more literal word-for-word end of the spectrum. Both are necessary perspectives.

ANOTHER EPISCOPAL PRIEST GOES EAST
The declining Episcopal Church USA continues to feed the growth of Eastern Orthodoxy in the US.

INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP JENKINS
David Virtue has a good interview in Virtuosity with Jenkins, the author of The Next Christendom.

DEAD CAR
Sarge, the chief mechanic at Nona's, pronounced our Acura dead today. The engine is locked up and it would cost more to rebuild it than what the old beater is worth. So we'll make due without it. I want to save our pennies to buy a GEM -- electric around town vehicle. But my family has threatened to disown me if I do. The GEM doesn't rate very high on the coolness scale -- or at least that's what my teenage children think. If the GEM folks would only market this thing as a teen car! The roads would be a lot safer if kids drove electric carts that max out at 25 mph. And then no one would give me a hard time.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"There's too much of a tendency in this country to associate our Christian identities with our American identities," says Nancey Murphy, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. "It's like, "My country right or wrong,' but it's always right because 'in God we trust.' "

CYBERCAFE VIOLENCE
You mean that electronic culture isn’t the solution to the human condition?

SPAM COSTS BIG BUCKS
"A study to be released Monday attempts to quantify the annual cost of spam: $8.9 billion for U.S. corporations, $2.5 billion for European businesses and another $500 million for U.S. and European service providers..."

"POLITICALLY INCORRECT -- PROPHETICALLY CORRECT"
Jordon Cooper, who is a lot more observant than I am and almost nearly as jaded, has pointed out the tagline on the Hal Lindsey website. Whatever, Hal.

I would be remise, if I dissed someone’s approach to prophecy without providing something healthier and more balanced. So I suggest that you visit my colleague Everett Wilson, who has republished his book Jesus and the End-Time online.

ARE YOU POP CULTURED?
Does it really matter?

AMERICANS ARE FROM MARS AND EUROPEANS ARE FROM VENUS
Clash of values -- from a European perspective.

DON'T PROHIBIT -- BUT REGULATE CLONING
Sweeping aside all ethical objections in eight quick paragraphs The Economist is arguing that we'd all be better off if we try to control and regulate human cloning rather than to prohibit it.

"Like the war on drugs, bans on supply will not cut off demand. The desperation of infertile or bereaved couples is as all consuming as any craving for dope. The only hope of restraining this yearning will be to give such people hope, talking openly about the risks of cloning for mothers and babies, and explaining that the technology is advancing slowly but surely until it is safe. Only then may people wait, as they do for many experimental therapies, rather than turn to the renegades."

I suppose we should print up some bumper stickers for them: "When clones are outlawed only outlaws will have clones"

SALVATION ARMY REJECTS LOTTERY GIFT
A Florida branch of the Salvation Army has returned a $100,000 check that was donated by $14.2 million lottery winner David Rush. The Army is staunchly anti-gambling. However, if my memory serves me correctly they have in the past accepted gambling money arguing that they're glad to take it away from the devil.

MISSIONARIES LEAVE VENEZUELA
The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod has followed the example of the US Embassy and pulled its workers from Venezuela because of the political unrest. This comes on the heels of the church's announcement last week that 25% of their overseas career missonaries are being eliminimated for economic reasons.

NY CITY CHURCH BUILDINGS BEING RENOVATED & RENEWED

INTERNET INTERCESSION
About 25% of adult Internet users — approximately 28 million people — have gone online to get religious and spiritual material, according to a recent Pew study. Some are using email to send prayer requests to various saints. For better or worse, at the beautiful Mission San Xavier del Bac, south of Tucson, Arizona, emailed prayer requests are printed out and attached to the statue of St. Francis Xavier.

THE AGING CHURCH
The age of pastoral leadership (and seminarians) continues to rise in the oldline churches. e.g. Jerry Warren, former editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune is now a seminarian at Virgina Theological Seminary. He is 72.

ARCHIVES
Portions of the Desultory archives have all disappeared into the giant blogger hole. Perhaps they'll show up again. This seems to be one of the problems with the blogger.com system. But, hey, it's free! And I'm basically cheap.

LACI PETERSON



There is now a website describing the search for a young (27 years), 8-month-pregnant woman, who has been missing from our area. It's been up since December 29th and has already received over 75,000 hits. The Modesto Bee has kept the story on the front page.

BANISHED WORDS
The Lake Superior State University has issued its annual list of over-used and mis-used words for banishment. Out: homeland security, extreme, untimely death, branding, must-see TV, and reverse discrimination. Perhaps we should add phrases such as emerging generation, contemporary Christian music, and spirituality -- all over-used to the point where they have lost all meaning.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
We're off to a good start! The first two 2003 emails that I've received from people in our congregation are very encouraging. One is looking for a way to personally plug-in and help in the ministry with homeless people in Turlock. I won't mention his name so as to not jeprodize the stars on his heavenly crown. The other comes from Karl Naslund, pointing me to the MEMRI site. The Middle East Media Research Institute attempts to provide non partisan translations of newspaper articles, textbooks, and television found in the Arab media. They even translate political cartoons. Thanks Karl!